In the oil and gas extraction industry, conventional drilling rigs are large, immobile, and often require several days of “rig up” time before commencing operation. In addition, interventions, while wells are under pressure, often require separate snubbing units, usually as part of a specialized “workover” rig, for the make-up and insertion of tubulars into the wellbore. These snubbing units can be attached to a conventional rig, with the drawback of increasing the volume and mass of the rig and increasing the required set-up time.
In response to the need for greater efficiency, portable “mini-rig” designs, which can be transported via trucks, are now common in the industry. These designs offer substantial improvements in terms of efficiency, but have substantial limitations compared to conventional rigs. For instance, many portable rigs are usable for the insertion and removable of smaller drill pipe, but are incapable of handling the larger dimensions of tubulars (e.g., 36-inch diameter casing tubulars). Much of the equipment, such as casing jacks and spiders, have more limited tolerances and weight capacities than traditional rigs, and they generally lack a number of features, such as rotary tables for interfacing with snubbing units.
A need exists for a mini-rig system, which combines the versatility of a conventional rig with a conventional snubbing unit, while still offering the smaller size and quicker set-up advantages of a portable or mini rig design. Embodiments described in the present disclosure meet these needs.